


Waiting

by notoverjoyed



Series: Not Yet a Hero [4]
Category: Young Avengers (Comics)
Genre: Imprisonment, its juvie so..., yeah - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 15:37:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10902306
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notoverjoyed/pseuds/notoverjoyed
Summary: Next installment of the pre-ya Tommy Shepherd origin story. See the tags; they'll be updated as characters and relationships appear.





	Waiting

**Author's Note:**

> I write at the speed of not very fast, but I've finally started the next installment of this series. Updates will be whenever I get around to it, but I've got it planned out and a good bit of it written, so it won't be actual years before it updates again. Comments are welcome!!!

Tommy doesn't remember much of the ride to the juvenile facility. He's woken so early that he stumbles to the van that's transporting him. He's awake but still fuzzy as he's locked to a bench in the back. The vehicle sputters and jerks into motion, but still he slumps and falls into a fitful doze. He doesn't fully wake again until they've stopped, when the doors are flung open. Bright mid-morning light pours into the van, making Tommy squint. The windows of the van are so dingy he'd thought it was cloudy.

He's not anxious like he was last night, though still disoriented from the events of the past few days. Today he's strangely calm as he's pulled from the van and guided toward the broad brick building. He's only freshly awake after all, and the journey so far has had the quality of a dream. Inside the building he's lead through a series of rooms. In one the uniformed guards escorting him fill out paperwork. In another a tired-looking woman thrusts a set of clothes, navy blue cotton, into his still-cuffed hands. In yet another room, two more uniformed men join them, one of them carrying small case made of a rugged black plastic. Two guards hold Tommy by the shoulders as the man sets the case down gently, then opens it to remove ... a collar?

Tommy doesn't have the time to wonder, because a moment later the man takes two steps and the collar is closing around his neck. In the corner of his vision he can see the little red LED turn green, and he hears the click as the collar locks closed. And then he feels the heaviness of the power suppressors in the collar. Combined with the strength of those in the cuffs, it’s all he can do to stay standing. Then the cuffs click open and he heaves a few deep breaths as they're tugged off. (The collar alone is much like the cuffs, but both together are almost too much to bear.) He's given a moment to catch his breath, then whisked away again.

Powers suppressed but hands free, he's shoved into a room to change under the watch of a bored-looking guard. Then he's pushed through one last door, and he's in a hallway lined with doors the same blue as his new clothes. They're all open right now, but the heavy lock mechanisms on each are visible. He's down to a single guard now, and the man steps to the side of one door and motions for Tommy to go inside.

"You're missing lunch right now, but we'll bring you a tray," the man says. Tommy's stomach grumbles at the mention of food; he left before breakfast that morning. "Tomorrow you go to classes with the others," the man continues, then leaves. The door closes with a thud, and the locks with a click.

With the man gone, Tommy takes the opportunity of look around his new home. There are two bunk beds, a desk, and he sits in one of the two chairs. A few pictures a taped to the wall, rumpled magazine cutouts of fast cars and muscular men.

'Must belong to the roommate,' Tommy thinks. They don't do much to liven up the room.

It takes only a few minutes for the guard to return with the lunch tray, but Tommy's anxious now. He taps his foot mindlessly, but doesn't move from his seat. The man comes back and deposits the tray with a few words.

"Fifteen minutes, then rec time." Tommy picks at the meal, but his hunger wins out and the meal is gone in just few minutes, and he waits for the guard to come back.

...

All the kids milling around the "indoor recreation area" are wearing the same loose scrubs that Tommy was given when he arrived. Most of them aren't wearing a power inhibiting collar like him, but the handful of boys that are don't seem to interact with anyone else, not even each other. A few boys without the collar staring at him; they know exactly what the collar means. One guy in particular is sending a weird look his way, and is coming closer.

Tommy looks away, but it’s too late, and the short and stocky guy is already way within the boundaries of Tommy's personal space. He could roll his eyes at the idea of getting into a fight first day at juvie, That look on the other kid's face has morphed into a nasty smile, the smirk turned right under Tommy's nose.

"Hey," they guy says, still smiling.

"Uh...hey," Tommy replies.

"Nice-ah necklace you got there," the guy says.

"Yeah, you want it?” Tommy replies.

"Nah, looks better on you," the kid says with, a few glances tossed to his friends.

Tommy scoffs "Figures"

And as quickly as the guy gets in his face, he backs off, and the small crowd around Tommy disperses. He looks up and notices that a second man has joined the first at the far end of the room, both looking his way. He puts his head down and tries to look innocent until he's banished back to his room.

...

A couple hours of looking innocent, another institutional meal, and all the boys are banished to their rooms. Tommy finally meets his roommate. The other boy is lounging on the top bunk and is flipping through a through a well-thumbed magazine. He's doing a bad job at pretending not to look at Tommy sitting in of the chairs at the desk.

Finally losing patience with the silence, he blurts out, "Tommy"

"Huh," the other guy says.

"My name," Tommy says.

"Uh, yeah, Daniel. My name, that's my name, uh nice to meet you." The kid blurts all this out with plenty of ums and pauses, but at least he finally looks up at Tommy.

"Yeah, nice to meet you I guess?"

Daniel laughs, "So yeah, not really. So... welcome to this shithole, my name's Daniel, please don't snore and please, please don't be an asshole."

Tommy, smiles and replies, "Uh, I'll try."

Daniel laughs again and asks "So, uh, where'd you come from? Please say outside, I miss the internet so much"

"Uh yeah, outside, so uh, what you want new memes or what?" Tommy asks.

"Not the same dude but uh...," Daniel trails off and looks away again, "So what'd you do to get put here?"

"You first," Tommy responds quickly with the first words that come to mind, not yet having the words to talk about what happened.

"Possession with intent to sell, but I was only fourteen and it was only weed, so juvie, yay" Daniel replies with mock cheer, "Got caught passing on the least little bit to some kid from school."

Sitting up his elbows, Tommy asks, "Do that a lot?"

"That's the thing man, it was the first time I'd had enough to sell," Daniel says without looking up. "Just wanted a little extra cash, was just gonna go to a movie with someone, maybe dinner."

"That sucks," Tommy says automatically as he lies back down

"Some asshole ratted me out when his parents caught him," Daniel muttered hotly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." Me and some other kid got in trouble, but me being the "distributor" and all...," Daniel shrugs.

"Yeah, I get you" Tommy nods. Now it’s his turn to avoid eye contact, and the silence stretches out.

 

This time Daniel is the one to break the quiet. "So did you kill someone?" he asks.

"What the hell?" Tommy asks incredulously "You can't just ask people shit like that!"

"Well, you weren't saying anything, so I took a guess."

"Well, I don't know, okay!" Tommy says, trying to stifle a yell so no one comes to check up on them. “Just... don't ask again, okay?"

A few minutes of silence pass, broken only by Tommy crawling into the bottom bunk and passing out of Daniels sight. Then the rooms suddenly falls pitch black.

"Lights out," Daniel says, but Tommy doesn't respond.

"Look, I'm sorry," he continues, to more silence.

"I believe you."

Tommy stays silent for a few minutes, so Daniel quits trying and rolls over to sleep, but then the other boy finally speaks.

"I was pretty out of it afterwards," Tommy says. "Like, when I woke up in the hospital?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, no one told me anything," Tommy says

"Of course"

"My first time"

"First offense, yeah."

"First time ever blowing anything up."

After that revelation, neither boy has any more words, and the room grows quiet again. Tommy curls in on himself and tries to quiet his mind, tries to sleep.

'First time in a long time anything'd felt that good" Tommy thinks guiltily.


End file.
